Ciena Embedded Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 14 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Ciena.
Ciena
Embedded Engineer
Mid Average Neutral experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen
Interview formats
Technical Behavioral
So I had a call with a recruiter, and then they set up an interview with the hiring manager. It seemed like it went well, but then, like, radio silence. I tried emailing them a bunch, but no reply back.
Confirmed questions2 questions
- Could you answer some fundamental questions about embedded C programming?
- Do you have experience with memory-related concepts?
Ciena
Embedded Software Engineer
Entry Easy Positive experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen
Interview formats
Technical Behavioral
I had a 30-minute phone call for this role. The person interviewing me was nice and friendly. They told me about Ciena and what they're looking for in a candidate. I mistakenly thought it would just be a behavioral interview or a discussion about my past work, so I didn't prepare for basic C language definitions. I knew some answers but couldn't respond well. I recently interviewed for a Java role and answered everything perfectly. It's just that I didn't prepare for these specific questions... My advice is to be ready!
Confirmed questions3 questions
- Could you list the data types in C and explain the differences between static and global variables?
- How are static variables stored?
- What are the different methods for calling variables from a method, and what distinguishes them?
Ciena
Embedded Software Engineer
Mid Difficult Positive experience Accept offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Technical screen Onsite Technical screen Phone screen
Interview formats
Technical Behavioral Coding
I had a face-to-face interview at the Ciena Gurgaon office. There were 3 technical rounds, each lasting about 1.5 hours. The questions covered my projects, OS, Kernel, device drivers, and specific protocols like I2C, MDIO, and SPI, as well as CPU concepts. Following that, I had a 30-minute discussion with a Senior Manager about my past projects. About two weeks later, I had another technical round, this time with the Canada team via Skype, which was also about 1.5 hours.
Confirmed questions8 questions
- Can you discuss your past projects in detail, particularly those related to OS concepts?
- Explain OS concepts in depth.
- Discuss Kernel concepts.
Ciena Embedded Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Ciena interview reports.
“Explain MDIO.”
Read reports →“How are static variables stored?”
Read reports →“How would you detect a loop within a linked list?”
Read reports →“Explain I2C.”
Read reports →“Can you describe the functionality of the memcpy function?”
Read report →“What are the different methods for calling variables from a method, and what distinguishes them?”
Read report →“What is deadlock and how can it be prevented?”
Read report →“Could you list the data types in C and explain the differences between static and global variables?”
Read report →“Explain SPI.”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 14 Ciena interview reports.